Posts Tagged ‘East China Sea’

Saying it is not about any particular country or about making a political statement, the United States has stressed that it will invoke freedom of navigation and challenge excessive maritime claims anywhere in the globe. AP/Gregory Bull, File

MANILA, Philippines – Saying it is not about any particular country or about making a political statement, the United States has stressed that it will invoke freedom of navigation and challenge excessive maritime claims anywhere in the globe.

In a recent press briefing in Washington, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said US forces operate in the Asia-Pacific region, including the South China Sea, on a daily basis under a comprehensive freedom of navigation program (FONOP).

She explained that the operations, conducted in accordance with international law, are meant to demonstrate that the US will continue to fly, sail and operate “wherever international law allows.”

“It’s true in the South China Sea; it’s true in other places around the world as well,” Nauert said.

A US Navy destroyer carried out a “freedom of navigation operation” on Thursday, coming within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea.

The USS John S. McCain traveled close to Mischief or Panganiban Reef in the Spratly Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals.

Slamming the FONOP, the Chinese armed forces immediately sent naval ships to identify and verify the US warship and warned it to leave.

The United Nations-backed Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague had awarded the Philippines “sovereign rights” over Panganiban Reef off Palawan, based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The court ruling last year also invalidated China’s entire “nine-dash-line” claims over nearly all of the South China Sea. Beijing has ignored the ruling despite having ratified UNCLOS.

“We have a comprehensive freedom of navigation operations program, under which the US forces challenge excessive maritime claims around the globe to demonstrate our commitment to uphold the rights, freedoms and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law. All nations —that is guaranteed to the United States and to other nations, as well,” Nauert added.

The FONOP, she said, is not about any one country and is not about making a political statement.

Last year, the US conducted these challenging excessive maritime claims in 22 different coastal states, including claims of allies and partners.

“The United States does these operations – the freedom of navigation operations – all around the world, many times of year,” Nauert said. “But this is nothing new. We’ve done it before; we’ll continue to do that.”

The US acknowledged on Thursday that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was under “tremendous” pressure on the South China Sea issues during the meetings in Manila last week but the regional bloc still “held on to its principles,” defeating attempts to drop “militarization,” “self-restraint” and “land reclamation” from the joint communiqué at the end of the milestone gathering.

China says it has sovereignty over all the South China Sea north of its “nine dash line.” On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said this claim by China was not valid. But China chose to ignore international law.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s air force chief defended military maneuvers in the Sea of Japan, saying the waters did not belong to Tokyo, after a Japanese defense review warned of increasing Chinese military activity there.

Japan worries that China’s probing of its air defenses is part of a push to extend its military influence in the East China Sea and western Pacific, where Japan controls an island chain stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) south toward Taiwan.

In an annual defense white paper released on Tuesday, Japan said the number of its jet scrambles against Chinese aircraft hit a record in the year to March 2017.

It warned that Chinese naval and air force activities in the Sea of Japan could pick up pace.

People’s Liberation Army Air Force Commander Ma Xiaotian

“The Sea of Japan is not Japan’s sea,” People’s Liberation Army Air Force Commander Ma Xiaotian said on Thursday, in response to a question at a military event in the northeastern city of Changchun.

“We must carry out drills at sea. China’s air force cannot simply guard on land and not go out,” Ma said in a report broadcast by Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, which was posted to the air force’s official microblog late the same day.

“But (activities) in the Sea of Japan are still not that many. What they have said is a bit of an exaggeration.”

Tokyo’s ties with Beijing have long been plagued by a territorial dispute over a group of tiny, uninhabited East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan’s wartime aggression.

The Sea of Japan separates Japan from the Korean peninsula. China said in July that its navy had the right to pass though a strait linking it with the Pacific Ocean, after one of its warships entered the area.

Increasing activity by China’s rapidly modernizing military has boosted tension in East Asia since the start of the year, as North Korea persists with ballistic missile and nuclear bomb tests that have stoked fears in Japan, the United States and elsewhere.

Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

China and Japan also have an island dispute in the East China Sea over the ownership of Senkaku (Diaoyu in Chinese)

MANILA (Reuters) – Australia, Japan and the United States on Monday urged Southeast Asian nations and China to ensure that a South China Sea code of conduct they have committed to draft will be legally binding.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China should establish a set of rules that were “legally binding, meaningful, effective, and consistent with international law,” the foreign ministers of the three countries said in a statement following a meeting in Manila.

They also urged China and the Philippines to abide by last year’s international arbitration ruling on the South China Sea.

MANILA, Philippines — The U.S., Australian and Japanese foreign ministers have called for a halt on land reclamations and military actions in the South China Sea and compliance with an arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s vast claims to the disputed waters.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Japan’s new top diplomat, Taro Kono, also called on their Southeast Asian counterparts Monday to rapidly negotiate a legally binding maritime code with China aimed at preventing an escalation of conflicts in one of the world’s busiest waterways.

Their remarks, which are aimed at taming aggression in the disputed sea, are considerably stronger than a joint statement of concern issued by their counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation bloc whose economies depend heavily on China.

BEIJING — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region.

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CHINESE FM SAYS TALKS MAY START THIS YEAR ON CODE OF CONDUCT

China’s foreign minister said talks on a long-sought code of conduct in the South China Sea that were first mooted in 2002 may finally start this year if “outside parties” don’t cause a major disruption.

Chinese and ASEAN foreign ministers approved a negotiating framework for a code of conduct during a meeting at the weekend in the Philippines. The idea is to draw up an outline of the rules and responsibilities for the countries to prevent clashes from erupting in the contested waters. However, the initial roadmap doesn’t say whether the code of conduct will be legally binding or enforceable.

China had long been perceived as delaying negotiations with ASEAN so it can undertake and complete construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea without being restricted by any maritime code.

Wang said the start of talks may be announced by the heads of state of China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations at their annual summit in the Philippines in November if Beijing’s conditions are met. He said those conditions include a “stable situation” in the South China Sea and non-interference by “outside parties,” an apparent reference to the United States. Beijing frequently accuses the U.S. of meddling in what it says is an Asian dispute that should be resolved only by the countries involved.

Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton said countries locked in the sea disputes should “stop improving or expanding or militarizing any of their outposts.”

Wang’s mention of the vague conditions can allow China to delay or halt the planned talks for any reason. Differing expectations between Beijing and ASEAN of what the code of conduct should look like also likely mean the negotiations will be anything but straightforward.

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ASEAN NATIONS CRITICIZE CHINA’S LAND RECLAMATIONS

ASEAN foreign ministers defied China’s steadfast stance and overcame their own disagreements to issue a joint statement criticizing Beijing’s land reclamation and military fortifications in the South China Sea.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and has tried to fortify its foothold in recent years by transforming reefs into island outposts, some with runways and radars and — more recently — weapons systems.

The U.S. and ASEAN claimants to the waters and islands oppose the work. They are wary of restrictions on ship movements in a key waterway for world trade which boasts rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of undersea oil, gas and mineral deposits.

These tensions divide ASEAN. Some ASEAN nations want to stand firmly together against Beijing, while others who depend heavily on China for trade and investment are wary about possible retaliation.

ASEAN foreign ministers failed to promptly issue a joint communique after their annual gathering Saturday due to a disagreement over whether to include criticism, even indirectly, of China’s activities in the contested territories.

Then, in a surprise move late Sunday, they indirectly criticized Beijing’s land reclamation and military fortifications in the disputed waters.

They also in their 46-page statement referred vaguely to an international arbitration ruling last year that invalidated China’s historical claims to virtually all the strategic waterway.

The regional grouping decides by consensus, and last year Cambodia and Laos, who receive massive aid from China, blocked any mention of the arbitration ruling in the final text.

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US, CHINESE, JAPANESE NAVIES END SEARCH FOR MISSING US SAILOR

The U.S., Chinese and Japanese navies ended a three-day search for a missing sailor who was believed to have gone overboard in the South China Sea.

Vessels and aircraft, including two Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy frigates and aircraft from two Japan Maritime Self-Defense ships, had combed roughly 10,000 square miles (30,000 square kilometers) of the sea west of the Philippines by Friday. The U.S. Navy said the joint search had demonstrated “the common bond shared by all mariners to render assistance at sea.”

The sailor was from the guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem, based in Yokosuka, Japan. He was reported missing on Aug. 1.

China accused the U.S. in July of trespassing in its waters when the Stethem sailed within 12 nautical miles (32 kilometers) of Triton Island in the Paracel Group.

The operation was aimed at affirming the right to passage and challenging what the U.S. considers China’s excessive territorial claims in the area. China sent ships to intercept the destroyer.

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XI SAYS CHINA WON’T ALLOW THE LOSS OF “ANY PIECE” OF ITS TERRITORY

Chinese President Xi Jinping says China will have the “confidence to conquer all forms of invasion” and won’t allow the loss of “any piece” of its land to outsiders.

His words were contained in a speech in Beijing marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

It strikes a similar note to other tough talk by Xi about China’s territorial disputes with its neighbors, including in the South China Sea.

Drama at ASEAN: Vietnam Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (at left in blue) is the only one brave enough to challenge China at the ASEAN conference in the Philippines, August 5, 2017. At right, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano tries to write language that Vietnam can agree to. POOL photo

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, left, poses with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi for a photo prior to their bilateral meeting in the sideline of the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and its Dialogue Partners. Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017 in suburban Pasay city, south Manila, Philippines. Bolstered by new U.N. sanctions, the United States and North Korea’s neighbors are joining in a fresh attempt to isolate Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile programs, in a global campaign cheered on by U.S. President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

China says it has sovereignty over all the South China Sea north of its “nine dash line.” On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said this claim by China was not valid. But China chose to ignore international law.

Standoff between regional rivals began when Beijing moved to extend a road in a disputed area

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, talked in October with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in Goa, India.PHOTO:MANISH SWARUP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Niharika Mandhana in New Delhi and Chun Han Wong in Beijing
The wall Street Journal

Aug. 2, 2017 9:42 a.m. ET

NEW DELHI—China on Wednesday stepped up pressure on India to withdraw from a weekslong military standoff that shows how the countries’ contest for leadership in Asia is heightening the risk of conflict.

The dispute began in June when Beijing assembled workers and machines to extend a road in a remote Himalayan territory that is claimed by both China and Bhutan, a small, mountainous nation that is a close ally of India.

The road is located near an area known as the “tri-junction,” where China, India and Bhutan meet.

Bhutanese soldiers tried to stop the construction, according to India, which said it then dispatched its troops in coordination with Bhutan. Indian and Chinese soldiers have since planted themselves on the disputed land.

Beijing says India is trespassing and must fall back as a “precondition and basis for any meaningful dialogue.” New Delhi says road-building in the area hurts India’s security interests and Bhutan’s territorial claims. Bhutan has called China’s actions a “direct violation” of the countries’ understanding not to change the situation on the ground until their boundary dispute is resolved.

In a position paper released Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry accused India of “flagrantly” crossing over into Chinese territory. “India has invented various excuses to justify its illegal action, but its arguments have no factual or legal grounds at all and are simply untenable,” the ministry said in the paper.

“No country should ever underestimate the resolve of the Chinese government and people to defend China’s territorial sovereignty,” it added.

The standoff on the Dolam Plateau is sparking concerns of a prolonged period of strain between China and India, which are maneuvering for power and influence in a region being redefined by China’s rise.

“If India backed down, it would send a signal to the neighborhood that China is a better bet than India,” said Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “This dispute is not just about a road. It’s a reflection of the changes and realignments that are taking place in Asia.”

Both countries are headed by nationalist leaders who have emphasized shows of strength. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to forestall a unipolar Asia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is preparing for a pivotal Communist Party congress in the fall. Foreign diplomats say that Beijing wants to minimize geopolitical tensions that could upset preparations but doesn’t want to be seen as soft on boundary claims.

A Chinese soldier and an Indian soldier in 2008 at a border crossing between the two countriesPHOTO:DIPTENDU DUTTA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

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The two nuclear-armed nations face off from time to time along the long, undemarcated stretches of their border. India lost a war, fought over territorial issues, to China in 1962.

The current dispute stands out because India doesn’t claim the territory where its troops are positioned. Indian military strategists worry greater Chinese access to the area could leave India vulnerable at the “Chicken’s Neck,” a narrow sliver of territory near the tri-junction that connects the bulk of India with its northeast.

India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, was in Beijing late last week. Neither side would say if the dispute was discussed in his talks with Chinese officials.

India has also watched warily as Beijing has tried to shift the balance of power in Asia by enforcing its territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.

The rivalry has surfaced in different ways in recent months. China is blocking India’s membership to an international body that controls trade in nuclear technology, and has stymied India’s attempt to impose United Nations sanctions on the leader of a Pakistan-based terror group.

The following month, India declined to participate in the launch of the One Belt, One Road initiative, China’s expansive infrastructure plan that seeks to tie dozens of countries to its ambitions. China’s efforts to build an economic corridor through Pakistan-governed territory claimed by New Delhi has drawn sharp protests from India.

“India’s positions on issues that go to the core of China’s vision for a new global framework have upset the Chinese,” said Jayadeva Ranade, the president of the New Delhi-based Center for China Analysis and Strategy. “It sees India’s intervention [over the Himalayan road] as the next in a series of provocative steps.”

Since the start of the standoff, Beijing has kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of India’s position, which has been echoed in Chinese media.

A commentary published by the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, warned, “The public’s patience is running short” and “perhaps it is time that it be taught a second lesson,” a reference to the 1962 war.

Bhutan is caught in the geopolitical competition. India provides vital economic and military aid to Bhutan and exercises significant influence, but the Bhutanese shun the notion their country is a protectorate of India, as recent Chinese commentaries have asserted.

China, which doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Bhutan, would like to harness those sensitivities to diminish India’s hold and start building influence there, as it has done elsewhere in the region.

India and China both have incentives to maintain their position yet avoid escalation, adding to the difficulty of predicting how long the standoff will last or how it will end, said Antoine Levesques, a research associate for South Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

The two sides, he said, are searching for a way to “walk the tightrope of showing results and restraint—both of which are important to both of them.”

This file photo taken on July 10, 2008, shows a Chinese soldier next to an Indian soldier at the Nathu La border crossing between India and China in India’s north-eastern Sikkim state. PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING — China accused India on Wednesday of “concocting” excuses over the illegal entry of the South Asian nation’s military into Chinese territory on their disputed border, adding that China had shown great restraint.

The stand-off on a plateau next to the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim, which borders China, has ratcheted up tension between the neighbors, who share a 3,500-km (2,175-mile) frontier, large parts of which are disputed.

Early in June, according to the Chinese interpretation of events, Indian guards crossed into China’s Donglang region and obstructed work on a road on the plateau.

The two sides’ troops then confronted each other close to a valley controlled by China that separates India from its close ally, Bhutan, and gives China access to the so-called Chicken’s Neck, a thin strip of land connecting India and its remote northeastern regions.

India has said it warned China the road construction would have serious security implications.

In a statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said the Indian military was still in Chinese territory, and that China had acted with a great deal of restraint, demanding that India withdraw its forces.

India and China mountain standoff. (AP Photo – Anupam Nath)

“But the Indian side not only has not taken any actual steps to correct its mistake, it has concocted all sorts of reasons that don’t have a leg to stand on, to make up excuses for the Indian military’s illegal crossing of the border.”

The ministry reiterated that the border had been agreed in 1890 by the governments of China and Britain, India’s colonial ruler until 1947, and later with the Indian government.

India’s actions are not only a serious encroachment of Chinese territory, but a challenge to regional peace and stability and normal international order, it added.

Indian officials say about 300 soldiers from either side are facing each other about 150 meters (yards) apart on the plateau.

They have told Reuters that both sides’ diplomats have quietly engaged to try to ensure the stand-off does not escalate, and that India’s ambassador to Beijing is leading the effort to find a way for both sides to back down from confrontation without losing face.

BEIJING (AFP) – China on Wednesday defended its oil and gas activity in the East China Sea as occurring in areas “indisputably” under its jurisdiction, after Japanese protests stirred a longstanding dispute over the region.The two countries both claim islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan, which knows them as Senkaku, and regularly send ships to nearby waters to assert their claims amid repeated diplomatic clashes.

Talks between Tokyo and Beijing begun in June 2008 to cooperate over oil and gas resources in the area broke down two years later amid rising tensions, and have not resumed.

Yoshihide Suga

On Tuesday, Japan’s top government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga told reporters it was “extremely regrettable that China is unilaterally continuing its development activity” by stopping mobile drilling ships near the median line separating the two countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ).

He added that Japan lodged a protest late last month after noticing the activity but did not specify what exactly the Chinese ships were doing.

“China’s oil and gas activities in the East China Sea are all located in maritime areas indisputably under Chinese jurisdiction,” China’s foreign ministry told AFP in a statement, adding: “The so-called issue of ‘unilateral exploitation’ does not exist.”

The gas field under the joint development agreement lies in an area where both countries’ EEZs overlap.

Japan says the median line between the two nations should mark the limits of their respective EEZs.

But China insists the border should be drawn closer to Japan, taking into account the continental shelf and other features of the ocean.

China’s foreign ministry said it rejected the idea of a median line between Japan and China, calling it “Japan’s unilateral proposition.”

Chinese drilling ships were last spotted near that line in October 2016, Kyodo News and the Sankei Shimbun daily reported.

So far, China has built 16 drilling platforms on its side near the median line, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump offered reassurances the US would come to Japan’s defence if China were to seize the uninhabited Senkaku islets, which it calls Diaoyu.

In a joint statement with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in February, the pair said they “oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administration of these islands”.

China says it has sovereignty over all the South China Sea north of its “nine dash line.” On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said this claim by China was not valid. But China chose to ignore international law.

BEIJING — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves:

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, the location of several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region.

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CHINA SLAMS UK PLAN TO SEND CARRIERS TO SOUTH CHINA SEA

China’s foreign ministry criticized plans by Britain to send its new aircraft carriers on freedom of navigation missions in the South China Sea to challenge Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the strategic waterway.

HMS Queen Elizabeth

Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters Friday in response to a question on statements by British officials that “some countries” from outside the region “insist on stirring up trouble while the situation is trending toward calm in the South China Sea.”

“Regardless of what banner these countries or individuals fly under, or what excuses they may peddle, their record of the same kind of sanctimonious interference in the affairs of other regions, leaving behind chaos and humanitarian disaster, prompts countries in this region to maintain a high degree of vigilance,” Lu said.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson confirmed following a high-level meeting in Sydney with his Australian counterpart, Julie Bishop, that missions to the South China Sea would be near the top of deployment plans for the new carriers, the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

“One of the first things we will do with the two new colossal aircraft carriers that we have just built is send them on a freedom of navigation operation to this area to vindicate our belief in the rules-based international system and in the freedom of navigation through those waterways which are absolutely vital for world trade,” Johnson said.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left, and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop look at each other during a press conference following their meeting in Sydney, Thursday, July 27, 2017. Johnson said that he supports a proposed free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and Australia, as his country looks to strengthen its relationships with allies ahead of Britain’s departure from the European Union. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

British Defense Secretary Sir Michael Fallon later said exact plans for the deployments had not yet been finalized.

“But, yes, you would expect to see these carriers in the India Pacific Ocean, this part of the world because it is in this part of the world we see increasing tension, increasing challenges,” Fallon said.

China has strongly objected to repeated freedom of navigation missions carried by the U.S. Navy along with the presence of the navies of Japan, Australia and others in the waterway, through which an estimated $5 trillion in annual trade passes each year.

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OFFICIAL CHINESE MAGAZINE LAUDS PRESIDENT XI FOR ‘PERSONALLY’ LEADING SOUTH CHINA SEA EXPANSION

An official Chinese magazine says President Xi Jinping personally directed the enlargement of China’s presence in the South China Sea through the construction of man-made islands and other measures, crediting him with constructing a “maritime Great Wall.”

Xi “personally led and directed a series of great struggles to expand strategic advantages and safeguard national interests,” the Study Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s central training academy, said in an article published Friday.

The president’s policies, including the building of islands and administrative changes elevating the status of China’s claims in the disputed Paracel island group, have “altered the basic direction of the South China Sea strategic situation.”

They have “created a solid strategic foundation for the winning final victory in the struggle for upholding rights in the South China Sea, the equivalent of building a maritime Great Wall,” the magazine said, referencing the centuries-old defensive structure built to protect China from invasions by Mongols and tribes from the north.

Under Xi, China has constructed seven man-made islands in the highly contested Spratly group by piling sand and cement atop coral reefs, later adding runways, aircraft hangers and other infrastructure with defensive uses. Islands in the Paracel islands and elsewhere have also been expanded and similarly augmented.

China claims the construction is mainly to improve safety for shipping and fishermen, although the Study Times article again appeared to underscore its military purpose.

The article also cited Xi’s involvement in policy regarding uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea that China claims.

Giving “measures for measure,” China unilaterally declared control over a large swath of airspace in the East China Sea — a move declared illegitimate and ignored by the U.S. and others — and patrols the area on a regular basis, the article said.

It said Xi’s moves have “in one fell swoop, shattered Japan’s many years of maintaining ‘actual control'” over the islands, known in Chinese as Diaoyu and in Japanese as Senkaku.

A photo from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency shows the intercontinental ballistic missile launched from an undisclosed site in the North, on July 28, 2017. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

China has built islands by reclamation of sand and coral and has militarized them for People’s Liberationa Army (PLA) use. Seen here, Chinese structures and an airstrip on the man-made Subi Reef at the Spratlys group of islands are shown from the Philippine Air Force C-130 transport plane of the Philippine Air Force during the visit to the Philippine-claimed Thitu Island by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces Chief Gen. Eduardo Ano and other officials off the disputed South China Sea in western Philippines Friday, April 21, 2017. Philippine President Duterte on Friday, May 19, 2017, described this as “some kind of armed garrison.” Credit Francis Malasig/Pool Photo via AP — China has now occupied and built up by reclamation seven small reefs and atolls that have been made ready for military use.

FILE photo p rovided by Filipino fisherman Renato Etac — A Chinese Coast Guard boat approaches Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Scarborough Shoal has always been part of the Philippines, by international law. China says it is happy to control fishing in the South China Sea. Credit: Renato Etac

For about five years China has been loudly proclaiming “indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea.” China has said, everything north of the “nine dash line” shown here, essentially, belongs to China. On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said this claim by China was not valid. But China chose to ignore international law.

Troops make preparations ahead of the military parade at the Zhurihe training base in northern China on Sunday, July 30, 2017.PHOTO: LI GANG/ZUMA PRESS

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By Jeremy Page
The wall Street Journal

July 30, 2017 6:15 a.m. ET

BEIJING—China unveiled a new, more mobile intercontinental ballistic missile at a parade of advanced weaponry and combat troops, in President Xi Jinping’s latest display of military—and political—muscle.

State television showed at least 16 DF-31AG missiles in Sunday’s parade at the Zhurihe combat-training base in northern China, marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the force that is now known as the People’s Liberation Army.

The DF-31AG is mounted on an all-terrain vehicle so it is harder to track and can be fired from multiple locations, and it could have a longer range than the older DF-31A, which was also displayed and is carried by a vehicle designed mainly for roads, military experts say.

Mr. Xi, wearing combat fatigues and a peaked cap, inspected the troops from an open-top military vehicle before the parade, which featured tanks, helicopters, stealth jet fighters and some 12,000 personnel.

“The world is not peaceful,” Mr. Xi in a speech afterward that invoked his signature political idea of a “China Dream” to build the country into a global economic and military power. “Today we are closer than any other period in history to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and we need more than any period in history to build a strong people’s military.”

Mr. Xi also ordered troops to obey the Communist Party leadership, saying: “Wherever the party points, march there.”

It is the first time a parade has been held to mark the anniversary since 1949, according to state media, and is the latest in a series of moves that analysts say are designed to boost Mr. Xi’s political standing in the run-up to a reshuffle of the party’s leadership this year.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned repeatedly that he is weighing military action to halt North Korea’s nuclear program, and in recent weeks has become increasingly critical of China, accusing them of failing to rein in Pyongyang. The U.S. Air Force flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Saturday in direct response to North Korea’s latest missile test.

“I am very disappointed in China. Our foolish past leaders have allowed them to make hundreds of billions of dollars a year in trade, yet they do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk,” Mr. Trump wrote in a pair of posts on his Twitter account. “We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!”

China’s parade would have been planned months in advance, analysts said, and wasn’t a direct response to Pyongyang or Washington, but it demonstrated Mr. Xi’s efforts to build a military that can respond to external challenges—including on the Korean Peninsula.

Last year, the Chinese leader launched sweeping military reforms—including cutting 300,000 troops—that are designed to overhaul Soviet-modeled command structures and better prepare the armed forces for combat, at home and abroad if needed.

The PLA is training for scenarios that include a conflict over the disputed South China Sea, a blockade of China’s oil supplies through the Indian Ocean, and operations to protect its citizens and investments in Africa and the Middle East.

“By presiding over a landmark parade for a party-loyal PLA growing leaner and meaner by his orders, Xi shows that he is large and in charge in the run-up to the 19th Congress,” said Andrew Erickson, an expert on China’s military at the U.S. Naval War College. “Debuting publicly such a powerful, penetrating deterrent weapon as the DF-31AG ICBM seeks to demonstrate that China commands heightened respect abroad even as it maintains order at home—both central components of Xi’s China Dream.”

China’s People’s Liberation Army soldiers get ready for Sunday’s military parade.PHOTO: CHINA DAILY/REUTERS

China hasn’t provided any details about the DF-31AG, but a model was displayed for the first time this month in an exhibition at Beijing’s Military Museum. Analysts say the missile’s design and name suggest it is an improved version of the DF-31A, but beyond its improved survivability and possibly longer range, it remains unclear what the enhancements are.

China has an estimated 75 to 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles, including the solid-fueled DF-31A, which has a range of more than 7000 miles and can reach most locations in the continental U.S., according to the Pentagon.

Other equipment in the parade included five J-20 stealth jet fighters and several DF-21D antiship ballistic missiles, which experts say are designed to hit approaching U.S. aircraft carriers in a potential conflict.

Chinese state television said more than 40 percent of the equipment in the parade was being displayed for the first time, but didn’t provide details of every piece of new weaponry.

Troops in the parade came from the army, navy and air force but also from two new services created about 18 months ago—the rocket force, which controls conventional and nuclear missiles, and the strategic support force, which handles electronic warfare.

Electronic weaponry on display included equipment designed for electromagnetic countermeasures and aerial drones that can be used for radar-jamming, state television said, without providing details.